Full of illegalities: Delhi coaching center basement where 3 UPSC aspirants died was allocated as 'store room'

NEW DELHI: Three civil services aspirants died on Saturday following rain-induced flooding in the illegally functioning basement of Rao's IAS Study Circle in New Delhi's Old Rajendra Nagar.

The basement, misrepresented as a parking and storage area, was actually being used as a library, violating building and fire department regulations.

The coaching institute's building plan, approved in 2021, explicitly stated that the basement was to be used only for parking and storage purposes.

An MCD official confirmed, "In the building completion certificate of the institute, it is clearly written that it can only be used for parking and storage in the basement. It means that the library was running illegally in the basement."

Following heavy rain, the basement of the coaching center flooded, leading to the tragic deaths of the three students.

The rescue operation, involving the National Disaster Response Force (NDRF), police and fire department, retrieved the bodies of two female students and one male student.

MCD Commissioner Ashwani Kumar, who took charge in June, has suspended several officers in the corporation's building department. In relation to the incident, three officers from the zone where the coaching center is located were suspended last week. The commissioner has not yet commented on the reasons behind these suspensions.

According to Delhi Fire Services chief Atul Garg, the coaching institute also falsely reported the basement's use to the fire department. Garg said,

"The building has fire NOC, but in the NOC they had shown the basement as a store room. The management of the institute was using the same room as a classroom or library which is a violation of the NOC."

Garg further noted that there was no mechanism available to de-water the basement, compounding the danger in such situations.

Local residents have raised concerns that multiple other coaching institutions in the area may also be operating from basements under similar conditions. In response, Delhi Mayor Shelly Oberoi has directed that strict action be taken against coaching institutes found flouting building bye-laws and to investigate whether any MCD officers bear responsibility for the incident.

The tragic loss of these three civil services aspirants has cast a spotlight on potentially wider regulatory issues within the coaching institute sector in New Delhi.

The investigation continues as authorities address both immediate and long-term measures to prevent such occurrences in the future.